The present invention relates to a bottle opener and, more particularly, to an opener for the removal of stoppers from champagne-type bottles.
Openers for the pulling of corks from bottles is a well developed art. A large number of different constructions have been employed to carry out this function. The most famous of which is of course the corkscrew. The basic units provide a corkscrew which is screwed into the cork and which is then pulled from the bottle.
A more preferred means of a pulling mechanism is the well know rack and gear combination, such as may be found in such exemplary patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,753,026; 2,115,289 and 4,063,473 among others. These have the advantage of straight-line removal of the cork from the bottle with hopefully minimum effort. As with anything else, each of these constructions has its shortcomings as well.
The problem comes up in dealing with stoppered bottles as opposed to corked bottles. Corkscrews simply won't work with these molded plastic stoppers, primarily because the molded parts are hollow inside, so there is nothing for the screw of the corkscrew to hold onto. Thus there is a need for a low cost easy to use champagne bottle stopper remover.
In carrying out a search on this invention, applicant became aware of the Feliz U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,993, and the Baum U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,613 which was cited in Feliz. Other U.S. patents representative of the art in the field include the following:
______________________________________ 4,018,110 Spiggs 4,590,821 Olson 4,387,609 Poisfuss 4,606,245 Veverka 4,422,355 Burns 4,729,267 Gebeler 4,519,277 Raab 4,750,391 Sweatt 4,520,696 Wolze 4,756,214 Valtri ______________________________________
It is an object therefore of this invention to provide a lifting device for the removal of stoppers from champagne and other stoppered bottles which contain natural high pressure gas, such as sparkling wine and apple cider.
It is another object of this invention to provide a stopper remover for champagne-type bottles that uses a rack and pinion system.
It is yet another object to provide a stopper remover that pushes the stopper up from the mouth of the bottle and which requires minimal effort on the part of the user.
A still further object is to provide a stopper remover that operates in a downward straight line motion and which is usable with bottles having various neck configurations and not just one specific type.
Yet another object is to provide a stopper remover that dislodges and holds plastic and cork stoppers and prevents them from flying and hurting someone.
These and other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the device possessing the features, properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.